Wednesday, August 24

A bit of context.

A GUNMAN chased down and fired at two men and women before riding off on a motorbike. The man was spotted chasing the group in Choumert Grove, Peckham Rye, shortly after 7pm on Tuesday.

He shot at them but police are not aware of any injuries.

They appealed yesterday for the victims and witnesses to come forward.

The group was being chased towards Peckham Mosque - however, cops say there is no link with the mosque.

A police spokesman said: "Officers attended but everyone had already left the scene.

"We understand the suspect lost his intended victim and ran back down Choumert Road and made off on a red motorcycle towards Blenheim Grove."

This caught my eye because my dad & I used to live in Choumert Grove. I'm not going to look back through rose-tinted hindsight and say that the area was dead safe  of course it wasn't: it's Peckham. But it wasn't this dangerous. A shooting like this would have been big news; it was rare. Looks like it's commonplace these days: two shootings in Peckham and one just up the road in Catford on the one day  funnily enough, my dad's birthday.

Most British people, without realising it, have seen Choumert Road, which crosses Choumert Grove. Choumert Road market is one of the outdoor street markets at which Del Boy flogs things. Remember the time when Uncle Albert overacted to the electric back massager's treatment and started doing a jig? That was Choumert Road market. I used to walk through it every day on the way back from school. It was pretty much as portrayed in the show, except that the BBC avoided showing how beautiful the area is. Picture that scene. Now picture the scene described above. It's sad, is what it is.